The agent said: “Eric is on a different planet. He simply has no notion of money. At one point, he had 30 different bank accounts. He was juggling between credits.

“There was a time when he owned 10 4x4s –TEN. I kept telling him to watch out. When he arrived at Man United, I decided to take over the running of his accounts. It took me four hours a day. At United he was earning about £75,000 basic a month but every penny was going straight to loan repayments. He was having to live on bonuses and extras.”

Djemba-Djemba, who is divorced and has four children, will be unveiled in Paisley today. He’s 32 and was recently released by Serbian club Partizan Belgrade.

He said: “I have no regrets about anything in my career. It’s football, God decides everything.

“I was happy playing at Manchester, happy to be winning titles, happy with the way they treated me.

“And I have no regrets about going to Aston Villa – it was the choice of God, that’s it. When you are young you can make mistakes. I never regret my mistakes. I could have stayed longer but it’s not good to stay and play one or two games in five years.”

Djemba-Djemba’s arrival at St Mirren, one of former boss Fergie’s old clubs, is ironic.

He is numbered among Fergie’s worst signings but the legendary manager said: “He is a smashing lad. He was hammered by the press for not being a signature signing. They always liked the marquee names.”